Aug 30, 2013

If you've been following along, you know my youngest daughter moved out on her own earlier this week into a cute little house with two of her friends, and she seems to be snug as a bug there.

Sigh...

Her father and I miss her sweet face, of course, but what we didn't foresee is how much Tucker would miss her! He keeps watching the door for her and looking questioningly at us. When I ask him if he wants Annie, he growls deep down in his chest. I put her on speaker phone the other day so he could listen to her voice! Seriously, he throws himself down on the floor and moans for her.

Luckily, both daughters are coming over Saturday for the start of Boise State's football season. (You might have noticed I started a Football Party Food Pinterest Board. Before you look, just let me warn you that healthy/organic eating doesn't exist in this family during BSU games. Don't judge me!)

So, anyway, Tucker will be over-the-moon happy to have his favorite Annie here, and hopefully he'll catch on soon that she'll be home regularly for other football games and Sunday dinners.

I don't think I've ever included a Friday Find from a business before, but I just couldn't pass up showing you this drawer system in a hutch idea from Shelf Genie. So many of us have vintage sideboards or hutches; wouldn't this be handy dandy?

I think these easy DIY photo clipboards by Liz at Love Grows Wild might be just the thing for a long narrow wall space above my family room sofa. The stained wood creates a self frame for these gorgeous and easy changeable photos.

I think an old enamelware tub filled with flowers like Kelly's over at My Soulful Home would look so pretty on my potting bench. Kelly gives us all kinds of tips along with three unexpected secrets for successful container plantings.

Roeshel isn't the only talented one over at DIY Showoff. Husband Russ has been sharing some fabulous recipes with us all summer. His Tandoori Chicken and Tumeric Rice is one of Roeshel's favorite meals.

Aug 29, 2013

As a treat to myself for cleaning up my happy mess of a craft room today, I decorated my fantle for the last remaining days of summer. Summer isn't going anywhere soon here in Boise, and it will be warm here right up until Halloween.

So I still have plenty of time to enjoy my summer fantle. My fantle is a fake mantle, a shelf overhanging my craft table that I decorate like the mantle I wish I had. The weathered background boards are from our backyard fence. Whenever I want an old board, I ask my husband to take one off the fence and replace it with a new one. It's my renewable forest!

I cut a few paper triangles out and folded the glued edges over some string for bunting. I just love bunting.

I've been inspired by Jennifer at Town And Country Living to start collecting old bottles. The green antique one was found buried in our yard and is labeled with the words THE MOTHERS FRIEND. Unless it held a couple shots of whiskey for ma to hide in her apron pocket and take a quick swig out of when the kids were getting to be too much to handle, I don't have a clue what it was? Do you?

My daughter works part time at Anthropologie where I bought the last one of these plates in stock at the store downtown. I love the green with gold swirls, the edging and of course the fuzzy bumble bee.

These are a few old spice jars I haven't gotten around to putting French labels on yet, so I cut up little squares of burlap and frayed the edges, then glued on some buttons.

I wish it was as easy to clean my craft room as it was to put this fun little project together. Thanks for coming by to check out my Last Days of Summer Fantle. I hope you're enjoying the end of your summer, too!

Aug 26, 2013

Last month I received the following email about this old milk can I faux painted last year:

I was so thankful to find your blog post about up-cycling those old milk jugs. I was able to tackle that project this weekend. I am using these for my rustic style wedding and then afterward in my flower beds. I am sooooo thrilled with how they turned out and can't wait to see them with flowers in them. Thank you so much for your inspiration! I have attached before and after pics for you! :)

Kenzie

Here is Kenzie's before photo.

And this is Kenzie's after photo. Didn't she do a great job?

Just about the nicest thing that can happen to me as a blogger is to receive an email like Kenzie's telling me she was inspired by my blog post to try something new. And the frosting on the cake? Pictures!

Here's the background on my original milk can project post:

I received this old milk can last year from my husband (you can read about that here) and decided to try painting it. I was aiming for a rusty crusty finish.

And this is how it turned out.

I was really happy with it, and my milk can now sits next to my potting bench out in my garden. I was also happy to find out that a lot of other people want rusty crusty milk cans, and it's been a popular post.

I'm thrilled that Kenzie shared her idea for filling her old milk can with flowers at her rustic style wedding. I think it will be just charming, don't you? (You can also visit Kenzie's wedding blog here where I hope she'll post more photos of her milk can on her big day.)

Best wishes on your upcoming nuptials, Kenzie!

If you're interested in painting your old milk can, too, you can read about the painting products and faux painting process I used in my tutorial here.

Aug 23, 2013

I've been helping my daughter shop for a used sofa for her new house on Craigslist this week because I'm still her mom, and I won't let her go to strange houses alone. (Over-protective, I know.) She's moving into a little house with two roommates next week, and I'll be an empty nester for the first time. I'm going to miss having her here so much, but I'm so proud of her for making it on her own.

Last week I shared my Summer Potting Bench with you. What is it about potting benches that we love so much? If I could, I'd bring mine inside all year round. I love it that much. I think I had the most fun ever styling it, and if you don't already have one I'd love to encourage you to make your own potting bench.

I searched some of my favorite blogs yesterday for potting benches. (Most blogs have a search widget on their sidebar that makes it super quick and easy to find a project.) You don't need to build a potting bench from scratch or reclaimed pallet wood, like my husband did for me. You can repurpose all kinds of furniture. Just stick it out in your garden somewhere, put a pot on it, and call it your potting bench!

But I bet you won't stop there, because once you have a potting bench you'll want to make it cute! I'm sharing lots of inspiration today on Friday Finds to help get you started. Make sure you check out the links beneath each photo to see more details of each fantastic potting bench.

No, this isn't a potting bench, but it wouldn't be Friday Finds if I didn't sneak in something good to eat. I shared a galette last Friday, too, but hey, this one is peach, and peaches are my favorite fruit. If you love beautiful food photos, you must see Suzanne's blog. Gorgeous!

Okay, so what do you think? Have you been inspired a little to hit up a yard sale this weekend or rummage through your garage for something great to make your own potting bench?

I hope so! And if you do, please email me a photo and I'll share it on my blog.

Speaking of email...

I'm so backed up on email and responding to your sweet comments that I'm beyond embarrassed. Please accept my apologies. With the purchase of a cute and funky little orange sofa for my daughter out of the way yesterday, it's now been moved to the top of my list so hopefully you'll be hearing from me soon!

Thank you for coming today! I hope you have a spectacular weekend and a

Aug 21, 2013

You might remember this little yard sale waterfall table I bought on a lazy summer Sunday back in July. My brother wanted me to keep the wood look, but it was in bad shape. In fact, I learned how to use wood filler for the first time to fill in some missing veneer and deep scratches on this piece.

After sanding and priming I painted the edges and bottom shelf linen white with homemade chalk paint.

For the "waterfall" part I mixed up a warm neutral beige to set it off a bit from the rest of the table.

I distressed and waxed, and the finish is as smooth as silk now. I also replaced the old knob with a new vintage glass one.

I love the cute new shabby chic look!

This little table was way easier to move around and more fun to work on than my big television console, and I'll definitely be watching for more small projects like this one to paint.

If you live in the Boise area and are interested in purchasing this table, shoot me an email from my sidebar and I'll send you the particulars.

Aug 19, 2013

I have some photos to share today from my 35th wedding anniversary trip last weekend to the mountains. My husband and I loaded the dog into the car and drove up to McCall, Idaho, a small town on the edge of Payette Lake. It's about a two and half hour drive from Boise along the gorgeous Payette River, which is world renowned for whitewater rafting.

Tucker was super excited to be getting out of town for the weekend.

The first view of the lake is right down the middle of the quaint main street of McCall. Those are the ski hills of Brundage Mountain on the other side of the lake.

This statue of playful bears is at the end of the street in the city park. They epitomize the laid back fun mountain lifestyle here.

After greeting the bears, we headed right for Ponderosa State Park and found a perfect spot for our picnic beside the water. You can see in this picture that it was just a little bit smoky up in the surrounding mountains. Summer forest fires are a fact of life in Idaho, but McCall's had a very good year so far.

You can't have water around without Tucker wanting to retrieve.

He can do this for hours. Just look at that smile! He's always a great source of entertainment.

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Welcome to the North End Loft, located in our 100 year-old cottage in the historic North End of Boise, Idaho. Please join me as I share my adventures in eclectic thrift store renewing, furniture refinishing, decorating, urban gardening, crafting, and living a cozy cottage life on a budget.